Out for a Favourite Lunch and What I Wore

Aside from brunch out with a friend over Thanksgiving Weekend, it had been ages since Nick and I went out for lunch. Since we work together from our home office, our lunches usually involve heated up leftovers. Don’t get me wrong, they are always good leftovers as Nick plans for our lunches when he cooks, but they are leftovers nonetheless.

So yesterday when he asked me if I’d like to go out for lunch (just like colleagues working out of the house in an office would!) I said sure. Especially after he suggested one of our favourite spots in the neighbourhood, Epicure.

Housed within an old building on Queen Street West, which appears to have Gothic characteristics, this restaurant is much more French Bistro inside than it is Goth. The building was erected in around 1900, when Victorian architecture was popular. Curious about those spires along the top, I looked into Victorian architecture and discovered that it borrowed many features from much older forms of architecture (which in this particular case would have been Gothic, a style which was in favour in the 1600s.) This building was the first one ever on this site; Before that this was farmland. Its unique style really makes me wonder about the people who originally had it built.

And although the whole menu is very good, we both always seem to order the same thing at Epicure … the same as we each had the previous time we were there, and also the same as one another. It is their soy burger. They serve them in different ‘styles’ and this time I went with the Swiss (with Swiss Cheese and Portobello mushrooms) and Nick went with the New York (with a spicy peppercorn sauce.)

Mmmm, so good. So good in fact, that I found myself later, at 9pm, thinking about it again and reminding Nick of our delicious lunch. And no, the thought of it did not send me to the kitchen in search of a snack. If fact, it took away any feelings of hunger because I remembered how comfortably full I felt after our delicious treat earlier that day.

As almost anyone who works from home would agree, regular workday outfits involve more of a casual dressed-for-comfort outfit (*cough* yoga pants *cough*) than it does a ‘going out for lunch’ outfit. And since Nick is not much of a plan ahead type, he wanted to get going right away, leaving very little time to plan what to wear. I had 15 minutes to be ready and out the door, so I went with my basic uniform of black, dressed up with more colourful accessories.

When I saw that it was sunny out I knew I wanted to wear my vintage suede jacket, that I hardly ever wear because around these parts weather that requires the wearing of a jacked usually involves some form of precipitation, which is not suede-friendly.

I got this jacket years ago at one of the Vintage Clothing Stores in Kensington Market. I particularly love it because the heart-shaped details along the seams were obviously done by hand by a previous owner, using one of those leather/wood burning tools.

As for the bag, every bit of wear that it shows was put there by me! This is the very first (adult) purse I ever had, which I got just before starting high school. I was so surprised when my mother pulled it out for me recently. I could not believe that it was still around. Oh the memories it holds of many hours spent hanging around with my teenage peers! I remember that mine was the little version and my mother actually had the exact same purse but in a larger version. That one she didn’t hang onto.

The owl necklace was a vintage find on Ebay (discussed here). I was very surprised that nobody bid against me for it and I ended up winning it for $8.00! I kind of felt badly for the woman selling it, but hey, it wasn’t my fault that I was the only one to find her listing.

Thank you very much for visiting. I hope your Wednesday is a great day so far. What’s going on in your life today?!
xo loulou

Outfit details: Jacket and necklace – Vintage. Purse – Old. Jeans – The Bay. Loafers – Calico. Tee – oops I cut out the tag but I think it was from H&M.

love, LOVE the leather, loulou! that colour is stunning and perfect for fall. as soon as i saw the first pic i wondered if it was from kensington! haha! and the epicure… augh… haven’t been there in eons!
as for my wednesday… it started of terribly and has picked up a little. not the greatest day, waiting for tomorrow to come!

I was just talking today about Owl jewelry and there you have it!!!
Love that you guys were able to escape the routine and head out to lunch…it makes for a nice break in the day ;)
Love your vintage jacket!!!
XOXO

Oh I love that jacket. I have a love/hate with suede. I love the way it looks, but attract goobers like a magnet when I wear it. I have this fabulous pair of beige suede boots. One day I was wearing them at the grocery store. I had a huge load and one of the guys helped me unload everything into the trunk of my car. He dropped a whole carton of eggs about one foot from my suede-booted foot. So… my lovely boots now have a gunk splatter. I wear them anyway, but they just don’t look as soft and doe-like.
Lunch sounds so nice. I love soy burgers, so I would definitely order that right along with you and Nick.

Oh no Jenny! This reminds me of a pair of tan boots that I convinced my mother to get me when I was a teen. I wore them on a date to the movies, with a nice boy that I didn’t like romantically but agreed to go on a date with. Well, he dropped his whole tub of buttered popcorn on my boot just as the movie was starting. I surveyed the damage at the end of the show and my boot was wrecked with a huge oil splat all over it. I fretted about those boots all night but was so pleasantly surprised in the morning to see that the oil had been completely absorbed into the leather and there was no sign of it! Too bad the same didn’t go with eggs.

I love this post! Your outfit is so cute and (love your bangs) and your owl necklace is the perfect accent piece! It sounds like you had a delicious and relaxing lunch out – your description of the soy burger with portobellos makes me want one! The restaurant looks like a place Jim and I would like, too (love the name)!